The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-01-26
GAMBETTA.
A Description of Madame Adams Salon
a Coferie of French Celebrities.

A Description of Madame Adams Salon
ACoterie OF French Celebrities
As we were in the habit of passing
some of the winter months in the south
| of France. we used TO receive before our
| departure, and our salon was the first
TO open. We ceased our receptions Just
at the moment when everybody is over
whelmed with invitations, and running
/ from salon to salon without having time
| 20 stop in any one; and then. on our re-
turn, we re-opened our salon just when
other people were closing theirs. Adam
had often spoken to me of Laurent
Piehat's evenings, at which he was
regular attendant He talked TO me es-
| peciaily about a young man whose name
began to be mentioned good deal in
| our circle, Gambetta. who told the men
of 1S4S what he thought of them. with
out mineing his words, saving again
and again that their traditions must be
| broken; that it was no good troubling
| about the dogmas of the party, which
| hampered its action. ike swaddling
| clothes kept too long around the body
of child, and that this naive policy
must be replaced by march, step for
step. in the path traced by the enemy.
10 try TO conquer with proiectiles
/ flung from too great q height is mere
| Stiffness" said NJ. Leon Gambetta; I'VE
| are under the Empire. let us combat the
Empire with the methods of the En-
pire. Il is useless 10 put on dancing
shoes IN order to walk in a sewer: let
| us put on sewermen's boots. VI. Louis
Blanc, if he returned. would vote again,
from principle. for the return of Prince
NaratanFa Laafz
| Piles, however much they give them the
lie. Very good; let us wipe out the
principle. and let us take account of the
| fact only. If we shut ourselves up in
our doctrines. we shall never triumph.
We must drive Napoleon ILL., back
upon his own men, and overthrow
| Rouher with the enemies of Rouher.
Principlesl We have had enough of
principlesw
Adam admired all this completely I
made reserves
"a good doctrine for combat said.
''but very demoralizing the day of the
victory. For what will be the prize and
object of the victory? Mere victory?
That is not enough"
THE proof that we are wrong, and
tnat this young man is right" replied
Adam, land that the ideal doctrine is
false, is that not only have we been
crushed. but we have been stupid. This
Gambetta says dozens of things that
thought in 1913, and which | have not
dared to formulate since. He is right
None of those who have been directing
us ever took advantage of events. II
we had only had man with the char
acter of Cayaignac, the eloquence of
7 h
Ledru-Rollin. then we should have
triumphed. Win you believe itp-M
Leon Gambetta makes me think of this
trinity united in one single man"
"Ahi if that be the case, | want to
know him. You must bring him to see
me-
THE fact is that his ways are very
how shall | say?-very Latin Quarter
student-like. He is as free and careless
in his language as he is in his dress.
He speaks with terrible accent; he dis
cusses with insolence; and | should be
sorry for you to hear the way he treats
me because | am one of the 1S4S set"
But is he extraordinary, or is he
not9"
''He is extraordinary, but thorough
Bohemian; vulgar. living as nobody else
lives, brutal. audaeious. He is man
for the pupulace, kind of Danton. only
more shrewd. He speaks with great
authority
Il want to know him" replied.
On November IA. 1868. Gambetta,
who in the morning was only known to
a small circle of friends. became fam
| Gus in the evening. thanks 10 his de-
fence of Delescluze, the editor of lie
| ReUea. His pleadings flew like signal
all over France.
The great force of Gambetta Law in
his faculty of translating currents of
opinion into words, which had no rear
value in themselves. or, Mt any rate.
value which they soon lost, but which
| at the moment calmed each ones
| spirit of inquiry, and were the exact
| expression of the opinions of all This
| speech in defence of Deiescluze, which
| caused so much emotion, and rendered
SO admirably and so completely the ex-
| plosion of the general conscience of
| France, seems nothing exceptional if we
read it over now, but you can feel in it
| the vibration of a soul which others
made to yibrate. Between Gambetta
and public opinion, SO far as he aban-
| doned himself to opinion and did not
| try to oppress 1t, there was an extra
| ordinary sympathetic communication.
| He gave back one bundred-fold what
| he received from it; satisfying it just in
! the degree to which it wished To be
satisfied He was the model of demo-
cratic orator. Often have | seen him at
| the time when we were intimate, hesi-
| tate in his reflections, question, grow
excited in order TO provoke contradic-
/ ton, exercise his oratory in our little
| circle as if he were trying TO feel the
| pulse of opinion, just as formerly he
| used to exercise himself in the midst of
| his comrades so that he might Judge the
resources of his eloquence. But in
presence of a crowd or of an assembly,
whatever his preconceived idea might
| be, his mind would catch with marvel
Gus facility the general tendency of
the mind of his audience, and there
would take place within his mind. as it
were, chemical process. the formation
of sublimated mixture of diverse ele-
ments. How could lac fail TO force the
attention of those to whom he returned
their own thoughts strengthened, broad
ened, and adorned with superb flights
of eloquence?
| Before our departure for the south
sent a note to Gambetta inviting him
to dinner He imagined, as he after
ward told me, that he was coming to
the table of literary woman, a blue
| stocking, and so he arrived dressed in
one of those costumes that one wears in
| the morning for want of something bet
ter. His coat was neither frock-eoat
nor jacket. but something between a
pilot-eoat and an overcoat As he was
| subject 10 bronchitis, he wore a check
flannel shirt. on which he had pinned
white collar and cuffs, but the flannel
was visible in certain places, and no
pushed back the recalcitrant folds with
an ease that betrayed long habit
Adam and our friends were all in
evening dress, and in decollete gala
costume. Gambetta looked at US in
amazement Eugene Pelletan. who
knew him, introduced the newcomer to
me. Adam was chatting in another
room. Gambetta apologized for not
having a dress-coat Il never wear
one." he said; land if had known"
''You would not have come, mon
sieur That is very unamiable on your
part, replied, laughing.
Pelletan, with his usual kindness, then
added: Madame Adam prefers that her
friends should not come to her house in
evening dress.
However, the appearance of the room
demonstrated the contrary. In such
cases as this everybody is embarrassed.
NV old friend Jules de Lasteyrie, a
Lafayette" in manners. and generally
so kind, said to me in a whisper, "A